The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-11-19

the insects that form the coral within
the reefs where they are under the shell
ter of protecting rocks, out of the reach
OF winds and waves, work more quickly
and their work is apparently sound and
good. But on the other hand, those
little workers who work outside these
reefs, in the foam and dash Of waves,
are fortified and hardened, and their
work is frmer and more enduring. The
strongest characters are formed, not in
the seclusion of the cloister, not in the
retirement of the hermit but they are
built up in the noise and rush, the dash
and foam, amid the duties and disap-
pointments, the cares and responsible
ties of the worlds business, or social or
household life. Strength is always the
child of battle
1t is unfortunate that any distinction
should be made between the religious
and secular. Not that we should not
use the terms they are convenient,
but that we should come to think that
there is any radical difference between
them. Men say, Religion is religion,
and business is business" as if there
were great gulf dividing them. A
hurtful distinction is made between
every day work and religious work.
We divide our duties. We speak of
them as social, domestic, business, re-
ligious. What are our religious dutiesp
ITO 60 to church, to come to the weekly
prayer meeting, to attend Sabbath
school, certainly. But l insist that
all the rest are religious duties, just as
much as these. If you are mechanic,
there is no duty of your shop,-if you
are a clerk, there is no duty of your
desk,-if you are student, there is no
duty of your classroom, If you are a
housekeeper, there is no duty of the
household, If you are servant, there
is no duty of the kitchen,-that is not
a religious duty, as much as your morn
ing prayers or your Sabbath worship.
1t makes no difference what any ones
occupation may be, so long as it is hon
est and honorable. The cap of the
miller is respectable as the inter of the
priest, the garb of the ploughman as
the robes of the king. 1t is said that
where the spirit of God dwells, there is
liberty there are dignity and honor,
also That spirit visits not alone
cathedral and sanctuary, but wings its
way to shop and store, and transforms
these into holy of holies. The cot of
the backwoodsman it exalts into pal
ace of splendor the smoky forge it
illumines with celestial radiance. La
Dor is worship The blacksmith on
his anvil may hammer out, Praise God
from whom all blessings flow, THE
shoemaker may beat it upon his lap
stone, as acceptably as it can be thun-
dered forth with voice and organ. Men
may praise God with hoe and rake, axe
and mallet, pick and spade. He turns
not deaf ear to their praises, whether
coming up in the accents of human
speech or the sounds of human toll.
Every duty is religious duty. Every
employment is sacred. The light from
that carpenters shop at Nazareth has
struck its javelins of glory through
every human industry. They rest upon
the rude box of the boot-black, as well
as upon the pinnacles of the temple.
II. That the sacred and secular
cannot be successfully divorced, is evil
dent from several considerations; ~.
The same principles apply in both
spheres. There is not one set Of COM
mandments for Sundays, and another
for week days. Thou shalt love the
Lord, thy God," means when digging
bitches as well as when singing psalms.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy
SELF" means when we are making bar
gains in real estate or merchandise as
we'll as when studying the ''Interna-
tional Lessons in Sunday-school.
~. The same motives mustinfuence.
Take the duties we call religious, and
ask why we perform them so far as
the answer has reference to God, ODE
dience to his will so far as it has refer
ence to ourselves, desire to develop
and make the most of ourselves,-it
will serve for all the other questions.
Why should 1 be honest every day ?
Why should l do the best for my en-
ployer ? Why should 1 do my house.
work faithfully? The same impulse
and inspiration lie at the bottom of
everything in life.
(3) The clear teachings of the New
Testament are to the same effect.
" Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory
of God" II. Cor. x. 3D. Whatsoever
We do in word or deed, do all in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God and the Father by him." (Col.
iii. ~ Reading the remainder of this
chapter and the 9Th Of Ephesians, we
find that domestic duties, the duties of
parents to children and the reverse, of
servants to masters, and masters to SER
wants, are all put upon religious basis,
so that the commonest concern of the
household, the hardest drudgery out of
it, are in the truest sense, religious OBJ